Premiere Pro deleted all of my original video files for good. Over 18 hours of editing and priceless footage I cant just re record.

[bens83139868]

So, today I rendered my project using premiere pro. When I watched the final video after export, half of it says media offline. I tried to re link the media only to find that half of my original footage has been permanently deleted off my hard drive.

I haven't deleted any of it myself, its not in my recycle bin it's just gone. Ive tried using an old autosave to fix the problem but the media is still offline, because my files have miraculously disappeared.

What's going on????? Has anybody else had a similar problem and fixed it? I am beyond angry. It is priceless footage that cant be re created WTF!!!!!!!!

Can anyone help me please?

Thanks.

[R Neil Haugen]

There was one short release of Premiere that could actually under certain circumstances delete files ... that was a couple years back.

Which version ... number-dot-number like "13.1.2 build 9" ... are you using?

Neil

[Ann Bens]

Windows or Mac?

[bens83139868]

Thanks for the replies guys.. I am using Windows 10. Premiere Pro Version 13.1.2 (Build 9)

[Justin T - Hyper Brew]

Sorry to hear this, losing files is the worst. I've been using PPRO on 13.1.2 on 2 different Windows 10 machines every day for a while without issues, so not sure Premiere is the culprit. I know Windows 10 had an issue of deleting files a little while back. looks like it was 1809, and I think there was a way to restore them if What release of Windows 10 are you on? (you can see this by searching for "About my PC" in the start menu search. From that article it says you can call Microsoft for support at: 1-800-MICROSOFT

I believe the files that were deleted were in the User folder. Were your files in the user folder or on an external hard drive?

You could also try searching your whole computer for those file names in case they got moved somehow.

Finally, you could try some sort of data recovery program on the hard disk the files were on: The Best Data Recovery Software | PCMag.com

[bens83139868]

I understand what you're saying about using it everyday with no issues.. I am using Windows 10 home Version 1809. Although I think premiere pro must be the culprit in this case. I havent even turned my computer off since this morning and some of the files that were deleted, was footage I recorded today.

The footage was spread across multiple different folders because it was recorded on different dates and different devices etc... I dont know whether I might have pressed a random keyboard shortcut or something, thats my buest guess if its not a software issue. But yes, most of them would have been within the user folder.

Ive already tried searching my drives with file names had no success, my next step is data recovery but it doesn't look promising.

Thanks for the replies though, I really appreciate it !

[Justin T - Hyper Brew]

Dang, that's not good. Going forward I'd try to put your stuff on a different/new hard drive. I have had some mysterious recent folders absolutely vanish before, though hard to diagnose, my first guess if it's not the OS would be a drive error. You could try Error Checking the drive by going into Properties > Tools on your hard drive.

Also, I know it's too late for the stuff that's already missing, but definitely get a backup service like Crashplan or Backblaze. They're super cheap these days and can save a lot of headaches.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Ben,

Can you try a search of the media files using the filetype suffix, like ".mov" etc.?

Is it possible a media drive is ejected?

Is it possible a media drive is damaged?

Do you not have any hard backups of your media anywhere?

Ironically, I just wrote a blog post about backing up footage.

Let us know.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Ann Bens]

Ironically, I just wrote a blog post about backing up footage.

It still amazes me how many users dont realize how important that is and only start making backups after the fact.

[Reg Santo Tomas]

Hi Ben,

Sorry to hear about your issue.  I want to add some extra information to what Kevin M has said.

There is no code in Premiere Pro that would remove those files from your computer.

Files may be removed are via the Media Cache preferences and only very specific files generated by the application such as cfa and pek files and only if this preference is enabled.

Reg Santo Tomas

[Christian.Z]

You MIGHT be affected by a virus, some few years back, there was this nasty virus circulating that would rename media files and hides them. The best way to know is to check if the free-space on your drive is still the same. If it is, the drives are still there.

I'm pretty sure you know how to reveal hidden files on windows (Control Panel --> File Explorer Option (On Icon view) --> View tab --> Show hidden files and folders) And try to see if you can find them then.

[reinderd73916970]

Just to add I think I suffered from the same problem.

Just today took a small video from my phone to add some music over it. Tried exporting, had some trouble with good format (I think video was too bad quality), gave up because it wasn't that important. Wanted to try again a minute later. Reopened project, files were missing from the original location, and nowhere to be found.

Windows 10 Home, 19.9.18362,

Premiere Pro Version 13.1.5 Build 47

Never heard of a similar problem with windows or some other program for that matter. If this really is a Premiere Pro problem, this better be looked at a.s.a.p.

[R Neil Haugen]

Premiere doesn't delete files. One version (available for only a short time then replaced) could. Hasn't been another version with that nasty bug released. I would guess some other mishap occured ... the probability of any current version of Premiere having deleted the file being rather small.

Neil

[autumnmycat]

I'm having a similar problem. I was making a video, and I exported it to MPEG4 but also wanted to do H.264. However, when I went back to export it a second time, I started getting the "file importer detected an inconsistency..." prompt. I looked to see what the problem was, and one of my main video files had been deleted. There are no files in my trash that could be the clip either. It just...disappeared?

I'm running:
MacOS 10.15.3

2.9 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5

8 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
Intel Iris Graphics 550 1536 MB
Premiere Pro 2020 14.0.3

[Greg&Kate]

Same thing, original file simply dissapeared during export to H264. File was simply removed from PC (beleive an advanced PC user), tried to find/recover without any luck. It's a huge gap of Adobe, harmful software, will never use this product again.

[frederik5E64]

I have just experienced the same 
Mac book version 2020 
After the computer went out of power it asked me to relink the files. after linking and unlinking some times the files that wouldnt be found were deleted from my drive and are now no place to find - im in panic 

[Ann Bens]

After the computer went out of power

Might very well be the cause of the issue.

I am guessing you did not make a backup.....

FAQ: When to use "Save A Copy," or "Save As," and ...

[doughsu]

So that would make premiere pro the problem right?

[katyaa38071258]

Hi! I know this was posted two years ago, but I'm hoping that if someone comes across this page due to the same problem, they will find this answer. 

I recently accidentally deleted a ton of needed footage on premier. I was trying to "offline media" to disconnected my proxies and reconnect the new footage. I accidentally clicked to delete the footage instead of just "offlining" it. I deleted all of the audio files from my computer and hard-drive, and my backup was a couple of states away so completely inaccessible. 

Solution: Nothing is ever truly deleted off of a hard drive, even if you empty the trash. I downloaded a data recovery program (similar to one that I would use if I accidentally formatted a MAG, card, or hard-drive that I didn't mean to format.) I then ran the hard-drive through that. Usually, there will be a "trash" folder that comes up, and then another folder similar to the trash folder. In the second folder is the stuff that has been "permanently deleted" off the hard drive. I found all of my audio files in there, recovered them, and was good to go. The whole process took about 30 minutes. There was even stuff in that folder that I had deleted a year or two ago which made me realize that you'd be surprised what you're able to recover. The sooner you recover the stuff, the easier and more reliable it is, but as long as you haven't re-written anything over that deleted data, it should still be there. 

Hope this helps!

[TorQueMoD2]

...

[MartenSessler]

This has now happened to me 5 times over the last weeks. Latest version of premiere, latest version of IOS on Mac Book Pro.

Never ever over my years with software have I been so disapointed as of right now.

Its always at export. You can see the program freesing up a bit then POFF!

[Worapat30261350boqi]

I also still have this issue with my latest Premiere Pro 23.4.0 (Build 56) on Macbook Pro 16" 2023 M2 Max.Some of my files in the sequence became offline, at the importer I still saw the file name but can't import it and it showed "the importer reported a generic error".
When I looked into the original folder, the file has gone.
It's a bit weird when I tried to bring back my file from another backup in the same folder but it also showed an error when copying "The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in “xxxx.MP4” can’t be read or written.
(Error code -36)". 

Not sure if this is related to the use of Tuxera with NTFS harddisk?

[BogdanCvejic]

Hey, the same thing is happening to me right now. Did you find a solution? I thought I was the only one...

[TorQueMoD2]

I don't want to sound insensitive, because it's a terrible thing to have to go through and I sympathize with the situation. However, a good lesson to be learned here is NEVER work with your source footage. If you've got hours of footage that is priceless as the OP mentioned, why on Earth is it not backed up in another place?  Always have a backup copy of your files before you bring them into ANY software package. Software will ALWAYS glitch. It's just a matter of how badly and how frequently. You should never be editing your source files in any application.

[doughsu]

Has this problem been solved yet??? This just happened to me. My Macbook Pro died while I was in a Premiere Pro session and it deleted 4 files from a folder in a bin. The files weren't even in the sequence at the time of my laptop dying. When my laptop powered back on and I reopened the session, Premiere Pro prompted me to search for those specific files and they just vanished from the drive. Absolutely nothing changed but my laptop dying. How could that cause the files to be permenantly wiped from the drive. That makes zero sense is that just an insane bug?